Low Cost and High Impact Technologies for SMBs

When it comes to small and mid-size businesses, small changes can make a big difference. This is especially true when it comes to new technologies that have the potential to lower your costs while making your life easier.

Business products are being developed at an ever-quickening pace, and it can be difficult for SMB owners to keep up with all the new technological options available today. In this post, we’ll discuss several low-cost and high-impact technologies for SMBs.

Open-Source Software

It’s no longer necessary to spend a lot on software in order to get professional, reliable results. In fact, business owners may find that open-source options are more scalable than many programs that are designed for larger corporations.

If you haven’t explored these possibilities, start by looking at OpenOffice, a software suite that includes word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, databases and more. Google Drive can also be helpful to businesses that need file-sharing capabilities.

Time-tracking Tools

Even if you don’t bill your customers on an hourly basis, your business can benefit from using time-tracking technologies like TimeWriter or uAttend. Some of these tools use GPS to keep tabs on employees; this feature is especially high-impact for contractors who need to know which employees are working at each job site.

Online Invoicing

Invoicing is one of those SMB activities that simply has to be done but doesn’t add to your bottom line. You may be able to streamline your invoicing by using an online invoicing system to speed up the process and possibly even get faster payments, which improves your cash flow. Fewer steps in your invoicing mean fewer mistakes and technical errors as well.

Landline Alternatives

Many people have relinquished their personal landlines, finding that cell phones meet all of their needs and reduce overall costs. While large businesses may not be able to get rid of their landlines, many SMBs are doing just that. Not only are landline alternatives less expensive, but they also allow small and mid-size businesses to access some of the innovative small business apps being designed for the way people work now.

Online Training

Do you find it difficult to spare your most experienced employees for the onboarding and training of new hires? You may be able to reduce costs and free up your staff by using online training programs.

Additionally, you can provide ongoing training to all of your employees to make them more proficient in the latest technologies and to keep them abreast of the latest developments in your industry.

Many of these business training programs are free or very low cost, and some can even be customised to fit your SMB’s unique needs.

Video Conferencing

One of the highest impact technologies for SMBs today is video conferencing. Before this technology became reliable and affordable, small and mid-size businesses had to spend large amounts of their budgets on communication and travel.

Now, however, this low-cost technology makes it possible for businesses to do the following:

Avoid paying for international phone calls
Stay in touch with team members who work remotely
Record staff meetings for later reference
Conduct sales calls face-to-face without having to travel
Train employees in other locations
Create webinars for marketing purposes
Conduct job interviews without having to pay candidates’ travel expenses
Hold meetings while some team members are working from home

As you can see, SMBs today have access to many low-cost and high-impact technologies that lead to greater productivity and improved efficiency.

If you’d like to learn more about video conferencing, get in touch with us at CommuniCloud. We can set you up with a free 30-day trial, which will help you to see how it would work in your company. We look forward to speaking with you.